Hi

This week was one of the hardest-working weeks I had. I think all 
together we taught 30 lessons this week. It´s been great. We´ve had 
new investigators come out of no where that I know have been prepared 
to hear the mensaje of the gospel (I´m going to add words in spanish 
here and there just like Marissa because I want to be cool to and show 
off my language haha love ya mar). By the way, my spanish is terrible. 
So if you are hoping to talk to me fluently in spanish for mother´s 
day, it´ll be hard. I´m pretty sure I speak the worst spanish in the 
mission field (most of them are natives haha). Yes, I understand way 
more than I have been. But I probably talk with a st t tudder to get 
my words out in the right place. 
 
So my president said to write your family about your spiritual 
experiences here. Since I´m on the front lines of the battle, I see 
the best and the worst, el bien y el mal (2 nefi 2:11). First the not 
so good. There is a preacher here from some church (probably his own 
that he started). His name is Ricardo Claure. I´m sure he preaches 
some good things. However, here´s the catch. He is an ex-mormon and an 
ex-missionary, probably used to be a really good one. So basically he 
is an apostate. He claims that Peter came down and gave him authority 
or the priesthood. Hmm, that sounds a little familiar. He has many 
followers, even some from our church. They say the book of mormon is 
not inspired.. blah blah blah. However, he preaches things like 
''faith is a hope for things which are not seen, but which are true''. 
that sounds a lot like Alma 32 to me. Well here is my experience. I 
think it was Thursday night after dinner. We had two more appointments 
for the night. Then this guy came running out of a store, '' Mormones, 
Mormones''. He was obviously drunk from his breath and his eyes. This 
guy is a top follow of Ricardo Claure. I won´t get in to much detail, 
but he discussed (more like interrogated or tried to argue) with us 
for 2 hours. He had some wierd questions like quien es el ultimo Adan. 
It was really annoying. He kept bashing our church and doctrine. I 
wanted to leave. I didn´t talk much even though I understood. He 
thought my companion was teaching me the gospel and kept putting his 
hand on my shoulder saying ¨tu puedes cambiar'' or you can still 
change, I don´t know about you (pointing to my companion). Well, after 
we left, there was this awful feeling like something bad was going to 
happen, just an terrible feeling inside. Both me and my companion felt 
it. Made my stomach turn. We decided to go home and just study it off. 
I´ve told this story to show that there is opposition to our work. 
 
Better story. This story might sound a little familiar is some homes, 
but with a better ending. We found this family (we teach the mother, 
the 18 year daughter, 2 other daughters, and 2 sons) the Saturday 
before this last week. They are great. They have been progressing very 
fast and even came to church. The 18 year old even has a nice book of 
mormon that one of her friends gave her. Well, we have activities in 
the church on Thursday and the 18 year daughter was in tears. She 
didn´t want to go home because she was scared of her mom. They 
recently had a pretty intense quarrel. It was about money and how they 
don´t have enough, but the girl said she needed some for school or 
something like that. Asi pues, the argument obviously escalated, like 
most do. So my companion, a member, and I walked this girl home. We 
had an appointment with them anyways for the night. We came in and sat 
down with the mother and the daughter and a couple other family 
members in the same room. Within seconds, they started arguing again. 
Honestly, my companion and I just stared at each other waiting for it 
to stop. Once there was a moment of pause, my companion asked the mom 
if we could talk to her alone. The member stayed in the room to 
comfort the daughter. We prayed with her for counsel from God and the 
spirit. My companion shared a great story of a similar situation he 
had. By the end of us talking to her, she humbled herself and we 
decided to go back in the room. Again, within seconds, the daughter, 
cried, mom forgive me forgive me. I will change. Then the two hugged. 
So I got to witness the atonement and the spirit in action and the 
love of God filled the room. It was a beautiful scene and I went home 
feeling great. 
Two different stories, two different feelings. Which do you want? Make 
the right choices. Sometimes, our destiny is not the path placed in 
front of us, but the one we choose to take. 
 
-Elder Walker